03 November 2008
Journalism Professor Discusses Use of Internet in Elections
Ask America webchat transcript, November 3
David D. Perlmutter, University of Kansas journalism professor and author or editor of seven books on political communication and persuasion, answered questions in a November 3 Ask America webchat on the use of the Internet in elections.
Following is the transcript.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Bureau of International Information Programs
Ask America Webchat Transcript
Online Forum Afghanistan: Internet and Elections
Guest: David D. Perlmutter
Date: November 3, 2008
Time: 7:30 a.m. EST (12:30 GMT, 1600 Kabul)
Moderator: Hello and welcome! Our chat with Dr. Perlmutter will begin in about 20 minutes. He will be discussing the use of the Internet and the Elections. Please continue to submit your questions on this topic.
Moderator: We will now begin our chat.
David Perlmutter: Hello! My name is DAVID D. PERLMUTTER and I am professor at the School of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Kansas, USA. I have written or edited seven books on political communication and persuasion, including (ed., with John Hamilton) From Pigeons to News Portals: Foreign Reporting and the Challenge of New Technology (LSU Press, 2007), and Blogwars: The New Political Battleground (Oxford, 2008). I also write research articles for academic journals as well as more than 200 essays for U.S. and international newspapers and magazines. I have been interviewed by most major news networks and newspapers, from the New York Times to CNN and ABC and most recently, The Daily Show. I edit my own blog about online politics, policybyblog.squarespace.com.
David Perlmutter: BLOGWARS: THE NEW POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND (OXFORD, 2008) began as an idea as early as the mid-90s. In 1996 a friend and I did a study of presidential campaign websites. Basically, what we found was that they were pretty much static bulletin boards: speeches, statements, pictures just posted up there. No real interactivity. In 2003, I started paying attention to the nascent campaign for president of an obscure ex-governor of Vermont named Howard Dean. His name recognition nationwide was in the single digits; he was not very rich or prominent or powerful within the Democratic party. Yet the Internet visionaries around him tried something really new: to get supporters of his views and ideas to self-mobilize, to create support groups, fundraising, canvassing on their own without top-down central direction. Blogging was their main forum for such activities.
Moderator: To see Dr. Perlmutter's blog go to www.policybyblog.squarespace.com
guestchat: how do you assess impact of internet on 2008 election?
David Perlmutter: In general, blogging (and its sister OSIM [online social interactive media] techs and venues) have affected Campaign '08 in many ways. Here are just a few: --Through the use of blogs and other OSIM, Barack Obama was able to gain a decisive edge in fundraising and appeal to youth voters to win the Democratic nomination for the presidency. (His margins of youth vote in Iowa were the highest in polling history.)--All major American political candidates and campaigns are extensively creating OSIM and both employing OSIM professionals and reaching out to independent bloggers. The newest job title in politics is "Blog Outreach Coordinator."--Many people are creating their own political Web sites, from blogs to MySpace pages, to self-organize (or self-cast) on behalf of candidates and causes.More---
David Perlmutter: --Military bloggers (milbloggers) have affected perceptions of the Iraq war in the United States and thus affected its political role in the election.--Most major media organizations, especially those concerned with politics, are "blogging up," asking their correspondents and editorialists to start blogs and hiring bloggers.--Citizen journalism has redefined all of journalism, especially in politics. The proverbial "first draft of history" is no longer written or pictured by news professionals but often by ordinary citizens on the scene of news events, from the South Asia tsunami to the London bombings.--The cell phone and pocket digital camera have affected political discourse. Politicians never know who in a crowd might be videoing them. Examples include the George Allen Senate campaign ("Macaca moment") and Obama's "bitter" comments. Politicians can't control distribution of their image and words any longer—everyone in the room is a potential journalist via the cell phone and YouTube. As a result, report
David Perlmutter: MORE----The cell phone and pocket digital camera have affected political discourse. Politicians never know who in a crowd might be videoing them. Examples include the George Allen Senate campaign ("Macaca moment") and Obama's "bitter" comments. Politicians can't control distribution of their image and words any longer—everyone in the room is a potential journalist via the cell phone and YouTube. As a result, reporters have commented on how, for example, in the New Hampshire campaign the candidates were more guarded, less personal with voters.--MySpace and Facebook have become significant loci for political argumentation and organization.--YouTube is now the world's "network of record." People go to it to see breaking news and upload their own "I-reports."--The young campaign worker (22-29) grew up with OSIM: text-messaging is no more "new" media to them than the wheel and fire.end
test: Hello sir! Are u aware of bloggers in Afghanistan? Can WWW make an influence on a developing country?
David Perlmutter: No--I only know about blogs by American soldiers and marines in Afghanistan. But blogs can have a strong effect on developing countries. One example that I wrote about with one of my students was Kyrgyzstan, where in 2005 bloggers may have had a strong influence on the country's political changes. See my webpage for a copy of the article about this.
Shams/ Jalalabad, LC Afghanistan: Why the people of the World is looking forward U.S election?
Moderator: I just want to remind our audience that the topic of today's chat is "Internet and the Elections" Please continue to submit your questions.
David Perlmutter: Well, you could say three things. First, the president of the United States affects everybody on the planet. The decisions he makes affect the economies and the peace of all nations, so I think everybody else realizes that who Americans pick as a president is a very important choice. Second, global communications technology means that through satellites TV and the internet everybody in the world can pay attention to every detail of the election 24 hours a day. Third, I think the campaign itself is very interesting--lots of drama and excitement.
ALI EID: hOW THE civic education in the americans schools prepare the the citizens to participate in the elections ? Ali cairo IRC
David Perlmutter: I think the honest answer is that we don’t do a very good job preparing for voting. We teach about American history, government and civics in school--and in fact often young people know more about those subjects that we older people! But the fact is that many of us don’t research our vote. Yes, when people vote for president they do know something about the candidates. But for many other smaller races or ballot initiatives people may know very little. This is a big problem.
Moderator: Now Dr. Perlmutter has a question for you. Please tell us what you think.
David Perlmutter: Hello, and welcome. I am very happy to be speaking to you today. I wanted to ask all of you: please tell me what sources of information and media do you use to learn about the American elections?
Moderator: Please let us know what media sources you use to stay informed about the election as well as your sources for local news.
International chat: As we know U.S. elction is using WWW. What about other countries? Which country uses WWW mostly?
David Perlmutter: The two largest groups of bloggers in non-English are China and Iran--blogging and other ONLINE social interactive media are growing in almost every country. Now, when we look at actual surveys of bloggers—both creators and interactors within the bloglands—we find that bloggers may be high in number but tend to come from the higher education and upper income portions of the population, which is as true in Kyrgyzstan or Nigeria as it is in the United States. In the United States, bloggers are overwhelmingly white, and the majority are male. One study of 2006 “Internet seekers” of political information found them to be much more likely to have an “annual household income $75K or more” and be “post-grads.” Another international survey found that in all nations, save Poland and Japan, blog readers were more often males than females.
Shams/ Jalalabad, LC Afghanistan : What is the secret of Obama that most of the poeople of World love him? I repaeted my questions
Moderator: Thank you for your question, Shams/Jalalabad. Please continue to submit your questions!
David Perlmutter: As somebody who studies communications, I think one answer is that Obama is a very, very effective communicator. He can be a terrific public speaker; he comes off on television as handsome and intelligent and in command of the issues. He also is very good at the technology of television. He is one of the only politicians I know who can read a teleprompter, which is a machine that scrolls the text of a speech, while walking around a stage. This is very hard to do--I can't do it! Also, I think many people see Obama as a very strong change from the last 8 years of American foreign policy and American style of decision making. When I traveled to Europe recently, I found almost everybody was very interested in our presidential race and fascinated by Obama. I think another factor is what is called charisma--there is some quality about Obama that is different from most ordinary, boring politicians I'll add in honesty, though, that it is easier to love someone you don't know much about. If Obama becomes president and starts making tough decisions, it will be harder for him to stay popular.
Shams/ Jalalabad, LC Afghanistan : The role of Media and Internet is so clear in election, how much the American media worked for this purpose.
David Perlmutter: Polls show that very large numbers of Americans are getting their political information from the Internet; this is especially true for younger voters. These sources might be blogs or other Web sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, or communications technology like text messaging or Twitter. There has been an explosion in different kinds of online sources.
test: Is there a negative to use of Internet in elections?
David Perlmutter: Yes. For one thing, it makes opposition research very easy. It used to be a problem to get all the speeches of a candidate to see if he said something you could attack. Now, everything everyone says is available online. Also, as noted above, Politicians never know who in a crowd might be videoing them. Examples include the George Allen Senate campaign ("Macaca moment") and Obama's "bitter" comments. Politicians can't control distribution of their image and words any longer—everyone in the room is a potential journalist via the cell phone and YouTube. As a result, reporters have commented on how, for example, in the New Hampshire campaign the candidates were more guarded, less personal with voters.
jhun: how does media affect politics?
David Perlmutter: If you look at my discussion above, I list some ways. But generally, I think what media do is to frame issues and to tell us what is important to think about. For example, there are issues like the economy that people are worried about and don't need television or the Internet to tell us are important. On the other hand, there are many smaller issues that become big ones because of media attention. During every political campaign, the candidates spend a huge amount of money and focus a great deal of attention on media. They know it can decide an election.
Aussie08: how does the expansion of new communication technologies such as the internet affect the election process? Has it helped or hindered the efforts of this year's candidates?
David Perlmutter: Many effects (see above). I think in general that the Internet has helped candidates get the message out to more people than ever before. It is now much easier to get political information and possible to create your own. When I was growing up, ordinary people could vote and maybe write a letter to the editor of their newspaper, but we really didn't have a voice. Now anyone with a blog can try to enter the marketplace of political ideas. I'll add that in developing countries that have much smaller blogger communities, those voices can be louder and more recognized than in the saturated American marketplace.
Moderator: Dr. Perlmutter, several members of the audience have mentioned that Internet access is limited. What sorts of communication strategies can be useful when it is hard to access the Internet?
David Perlmutter: As noted above, in most countries, peasants don't blog--that is, poorer and less educated people are much less likely to have access to the Internet and extremely less likely to create their own Web sites. That affects the information available and who is available to comment on it. I wonder whether the rise of the Internet café might help. There are many people in, for example, Nigeria who don't own a computer at home but log in via an Internet café. In the United States, many older people and poorer people either don't have a computer connection or don't use one. Famously, John McCain, for example, has only recently started using the Internet, and on a very limited basis. That's not unusual for older Americans.
David Perlmutter: Also, even if someone does not have an Internet connection, he can try to organize local communities to try to delegate someone to go get information or publish information. There are models of this in Third World villages, where someone is chosen to go to a bigger city to petition government. I've often thought it might be a good idea for villages to do that with the Internet: ask one person, perhaps a younger student, to travel to a larger city and get and create political information, if that's possible or safe!
kuba: Dear Professor, I am glad to chat today. You have asked about the source of inflormation. I think many people now have a variety of web sources: BBC.co.uk, blog, etc. But how do these surces provide credibility? And WHO shall be charged with determingin the truth on a site? Or is the web beyond control?
David Perlmutter: My friend, you have identified the greatest problem of our new online, easy access age. Whereas before, the problem was: how do people get information, how do they create information, how do they get heard? Now, the problem is: how do we distinguish what is accurate information; who is a true expert; what is a credible source? I'd like to use the analogy of love. You meet someone and like them, but it takes time to build up trust and affection. I think the same think is true of information sources online. Study them for a while, decide if they seem to be real and seem to be offering you good information, not misinformation. Above all, seek out multiple sources and compare them.
Shams/ Jalalabad, LC Afghanistan : If you could let me to have a perosonal suggetion to you, that you are a professor of jounalism and mass media, I am one of eager of jounalism, if you could plz write me your websit, for miss media information.
David Perlmutter: Hi. Thanks for your interest. You can look at my own blog here: http://policybyblog.squarespace.com/. I have been writing about these topics for several years now and I also list many other Web sites.
kuba: Please one additonal question if I may: The Internet = Youth = Big Youth Influence on Election = Internet is changing America. How do you respond??
David Perlmutter: Yes, this is very important. When Barack Obama won the caucus in Iowa, he instantly became a very seriously regarded candidate. If you look at the entrance poll numbers, his margin of victory was mainly among younger college-age voters. These are the people who are most likely to use the Internet and most likely to be able to be affected by Internet communication campaign strategies. Right now, surveys show Obama leading McCain among younger voters by as many as 30 points. We shall see tomorrow if those numbers hold up during actual voting. But yes, if Barack Obama is the next president, I think Internet+youth will be among the greatest factors.
Moderator: Several of our participants are wondering about the foreign policy goals of the candidates as they relate to Afghanistan. Could you perhaps speak a bit about how political communication comes into play when it comes to creating and/or implementing policy?
David Perlmutter: I am not a professor of politics, so I can only speak to communications issues about America and Afghanistan. I would say, however, that presidents can change over the course of their tenure. Look at Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan: many of the foreign policies they advocated during election campaigns they changed during their years in office. Another factor is that Barack Obama has said that he wants to eventually withdraw from Iraq. It would be very difficult for him to also withdraw from Afghanistan. In other words, from a political communication perspective, Obama will probably make Afghanistan "his war to win." That will mean much more focus of the presidency, the press, and the public on Afghanistan. I don't know how that will affect the war itself, but it will affect the level of attention we Americans pay to Afghani issues.
J2: Hello and thank you for the very intereting discussion. I want to ask you. Where does this all lead? Where do the influence of Internet take elections in the future?
David Perlmutter: Thank you. Let me use this answer to conclude the following. I don't believe that campaigns and elections and politics will go completely online in the United States or anywhere else. Human beings still like to meet other human beings face to face. We are personal communication creatures. But what this campaign has shown is the future of politics will be a mixture of online and offline. Some of the new technologies that people are projecting will be revolutionary. Maybe 20 years from now we will have computers installed in our heads. I don't know, but I do know that anyone who is interested in getting the best and the latest political information should explore online resources but also, as said, learn how to distinguish the good from the bad, the useful from the wastes of time. Thank you again; peace to all of you.
Moderator: We want to thank Dr. Perlmutter for joining us today and thank you all for your questions! Please join us on Election Day for round-the-clock coverage beginning at 20:00 GMT. Go to http://statedept.connectsolutions.com/elections08.
Moderator: A transcript of today's discussion will be posted shortly. Thanks again for your participation!
Moderator: This chat is now closed. (Guests are chosen for their expertise. The views expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of State.)
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